Fan Fiction

[[W1P30UT]]

whoa... very cool

[[87thSAS]]

CHAPTER 7: Eta (Part I)

A sea of low murmurs from the TDC pilots floated around in the mess hall with a burst of revelry from the UNSF pilots, both groups viewed the mission they were recently on differently; the veteran, older UNSF lot looking upon it as an good old romp, the largely less experienced TDC group as a waste of their time with a casualty of their own to boot. Over by the kitchen, Melanie could see a group of pilots from the 18th Spain Regiment sat huddled around one of the bland tables. One who was leaning forward with his hands clasped, looking at everyone else in the group, she recognised as the new friend she had made over the week, Melanie smiled briefly at the fact that Anthony still hadn't yet been able to taste her work, always held up or late because of training Christ, it's not like we're going on a date! At least he's nice to me...hopefully i can trust him next to him was a stocky person who gave her the impression he was one of those cocky, laddish types except he looked rather subdued, opposite him was a pretty young woman with glasses, the other three she couldn't make out because they were sitting with their backs toward her. Melanie wasn't sure what had transpired on the mission these pilots had been on, she knew from gossip among the kitchen staff that a sedated prisoner had been brought aboard and from eavesdropping on the conversations between the engineering technicians that a small amount of resupplying the LEVs had to be done. The mission had to of been a success but why were the TDC pilots so glum Reminds me of when after my mum died, i was all alone, the only person who knew who i was and could love me knowing who i was, gone. All those scientists and military brass were so full of joy that the energy transplantation was a success i couldn't care one bit i just wanted to know what happened to my mum that man Leo wouldn't tell me, everybody was so excited about that Orbital Frame they didn't seem too bothered someone was no more "A martyr for the advancement of Metatron technology" they said. *****. I was so glad that soon after their new toy failed on them. Staring ahead, Melanie put the last dish in the cart to be taken to the Captain's quarters and walked off.

The discussion between the pilots carried on.

"How long did Tom serve?" Asked Paul.

"I think it was about seven years, all that time and he never was never promoted, transfered rarely." Replied Steph.

"Odd really what with those recent transfers; Paddy to the Special Forces branch, Anthony to Heavy Weapons, Joaquin to Sniper...It's not right." Said Marco.

"What can you do it's not up to us?" There was a pause then Chris spoke up.

"What annoys me is how much a waste of our time it was to be on this mission, all we did was just stand there watching these lot tackle what might as well been a mice problem! This wasn't our fight..." This is new thought Anthony I've always had the impression Chris wasn't all too serious about his job in the TDC, hmm

"Well it's like Steph said it's not up to us, we're only here to enforce our countries interests."

"That is true but it really comes under the UNSF jurisdiction since it affected matters to Earth since the terrorist's target was Earth's Embassy. Remember we are reservists in a sense so of course we were brought to fill in the gaps left by the spreading of the UNSF fleets." Countered Anthony.

"Still you got to admit it seem overkill to have that many units deployed to stop an ambush, i mean i can understand bringing one regiment in as backup but with an aerial squadron as well! ****. Man. It's not like we're engaging in a battle with another country." Marco argued, Anthony shrugged his shoulders, leaving things at a standstill. He looked to his left and noticed the difference between the UNSF pilots and the TDC pilot's conversations Guess it helps to have a day job to retain some sort of equilibrium in our lives though probably not so with those who joined that are unemployed, fighting is all they got like these UNSF pilots for whom it's practically their livelihood. I don't know what I'm thinking about. Sure do miss Earth's sky, I've just realised that now.

* * *

With the planet Mars shrinking in size, the Vic Viper rocked slightly in it's flight, something the pilot did on purpose to alleviate the boredom of circling the Kismet every so often.

"It's hard to believe there are blatant racists that still exist in today's galaxy!" complained Leo, after arriving back from the mission Leo was told he had a two hour break then he would have to back out for patrol. Needless to say this wasn't on his wish list.

"Are you sure these orders were from Vassil?" Asked Michael, he could see that his comrade was visibly knackered.

"Positive, i asked the Warrant officer who gave me the order and she told me the order was from the Captain."

"She could of been diffusing the responsibility of giving the order by lying, you know how these NCOs can be like dear boy."

"Doubt it...hey i think i can see the colony wife and daughter are on, didn't think I'd see it this far away." From his cockpit, Leo could see a dimly, bright shape pass by a distant star creating a mini-eclipse.

"So you could say it was a good thing you were given patrol duties, eh? Weird how things work out like that when something bad happens, something good happens afterwards - like some mysterious cosmic balance."

"Yes, fine, whatever." I find it weird how you only realise the value of something once you lost it...better than not having it at all i suppose.

"Say you didn't happen to see that Petty officer around during your break, the one you remarked as "selectively aloof" did you?"

"Uhh...oh that guy, no didn't see him, why?" Michael looked down to his right in thought for a bit.

"Oh nothing just had administrative business to talk to him about." A spike on one of the sensors shot up.

"Got to switch off private channel Michael, sensors are acting up."

"Ok, cheerio old chap!"

"Kismet this is Leo Stenbuck reporting, i got something here..."

[[87thSAS]]

CHAPTER 7: Eta (Part II) "So Captain, what was this incident i hear occurred in here before the operation began?" Asked the sub-commander while leaning back. "I imagine I'm allowed to say this; it seems one of our NCOs turned out be a BAHRAM sympathiser, he was caught committing some sort of espionage, tried to resist my attempts to stop him so he had to be killed." "How did you know he was a BAHRAM sympathiser?" Vassil arched his eyebrow at that question. "All I'll say is that i don't believe the honourable men and women in this room are privy to that information." A woman in a chef's uniform with the UNSF logo emblazoned on it walked in with a cart in tow. "I don't know what disgusts me more delusional enders or humans who admire such fools?!" A few of the officers looked at each other in unease but since it had become one of those smile-and-nod occasions, they did just that. "Now, now we can't use words like that." Softly scolded Vassil to the surprise of everyone. "B-But...oh...ok-k...i apologise." Stammered the sub-commander. "Saying enders are "delusional" gives them an excuse for their behaviour when clearly it's all down to what they are: Enders." The sub-commander breathed a sigh of relief and grinned. "Anything wrong Melanie?" She had stopped in her tracks, barely lifting the plate off from where it was resting on. The turmoil on her face was quickly removed before anyone noticed If only you knew, it would be all different and none the better for either of us Melanie thought sadly. "No just had a blank moment there, I'm fine." "Ah, long periods of being in space can do that to you, sort of become one with it." Said one of the officers sympathetic her to her state of mind. "She never fully uses her dock leave privileges for some reason, but then again neither do i, family trait i guess though her mother was the opposite." Vassil begun to get wi****l when a screen projected from the ceiling appeared. "Captain Vassil. Unit on patrol is reporting an inanimate object composed of rock from Mars, possibly a meteor, bearing high energy readings of unknown source travelling on course that will intercept the Kismet's route ETA 50 minutes." Everyone in the room was reminded by their own memories of the pre-Tear of the Stars events. "Again." Vassil whispered drearily I'm not surprised "Have you sent any of our ships to investigate?" "3 battle cruisers and 1 battleship are awaiting your order sir. Shall i send a C-N as well?" "No. 2 battle cruisers are enough, leave the battleship with the rest of the fleet." "As you command sir." The officer saluted and the screen shrunk back when an alert flash upon the projection. Just give it up for once and tell me interplanetary war has started thought Vassil. "Miss Vassil..." Started the sub-commander but it wasn't necessary since she had already exited the room in haste knowing the protocol. "This is UNSF outpost Enyo, HQ summons all nearby UNSF ships please report to these coordinates that are encrypted in this transmission. The flagship Fuego and it's fleet has been destroyed by an unknown enemy, no survivors. Unable to reach the flagship Wintersun and it's fleet as it is currently thought to be around the dark side of Jupiter and the relay stations are experiencing technical difficulties. I repeat: HQ summons all nearby UNSF ships please report to these coordinates that are encrypted in this transmission." Maybe that's close enough. "I guess we won't be able know what this oddity floating in space is then?" said one of the officers. Vassil stood up and straightened his jacket. "We will because we are going delay following that request until we have more clarity about this anomaly." The officer confused, looked toward his fellow officers then back at the Captain. "Sir, that wasn't a request that was an order - from HQ, we can't not respond to it!" "Questioning my decision Lieutenant?" Vassil looked at the officer sharply to the point his head sank down an angle. A female Warrant officer seeing this took over. "With all due respect Captain the reasons for this order is much more pressing than something that we can come back to or at most easily monitor. It can be seen as the greater evil if you must." Vassil switched his attention towards this new speaker he knew the same tactic won't work on her so he relaxed his demeanour. "While what you say has merit, we can't ignore this object that we have little intelligence about and carries a potential threat, we might even have to reasonably assume it has something to do with this recent development. Besides there are plenty of other ships like the Flagship Atlantis - and we all know that has in it's manifest - that can answer the call. Remember evil works best by deception and stealth so we'll have to withhold our judgements about the greater of the evils." The Warrant officer could only touch the surface regarding the irony of that statement. * * * Anthony had the option to drift but he felt more at home walking along the corridor, deciding to stretch his legs but really just to escape the awkward atmosphere in the mess hall. He didn't have any particular destination in this "small city" as he had come to think of it but he did want to see far he could go Story of my life, trying reach the place beyond the sky be it from my past, my situation that annoyingly dull feeling...geez what a cliche I've become! looking up he saw a figure standing at the end of the hall Looks like Melanie, wondered where she went, things are brighter with her...wait she's in a different uniform? It looked like a flight suit but not one Anthony recognised, on closer inspection he noticed that the person wasn't Melanie. This person had longer hair, most of which was tied back and she was taller too. She looked once at Anthony as if she was studying him putting him slightly off balance. Uncertain as to how to react to this, Anthony saluted. "Ma'am." Nodding his head as he spoke. She stayed silent and just turned around to walk down a junction. Bewildered, Anthony was content to leave it like that but something in his mind was triggered by the mysterious woman and it prompted him to follow her unquestioningly. * * * If ADA was installed in this Vic then i would feel a lot more secure Although Leo was confident in the abilities of the AI currently installed in his V2 he did think ADA had proved to transcend the expectations of your average AI, as well as a close friend. He did get see ADA and Jehuty from time to time even had to pilot it for missions such as for Project H. A tragedy that joined a chain of such events of what would soon become the Tear of the Stars for those who cared but a initial success for those that couldn't, Leo wasn't able come up with the right words to say to the daughter of the runner when he came back, he was angry at himself and others. Once he suggested to ADA if it would be a good idea to install ADA into his V2 but it was met with a deny listing several reasons, though he swore some offence was taken to such an idea. Two battle cruisers entered Leo's view casting a shadow over his cockpit. "Is that it? It'd make more sense to have most of the fleet create a perimeter around the thing, not have just two battle cruisers and one LEV." As the battle cruisers got closer Leo noticed bits of rock break off, zooming in with the camera he saw the scrap metal parts shake, the HUD showed him the velocity of the Kismet was increasing obviously trying to enlarge the time between the object predicted route and the point the Kismet would cross that route. "Leo over the unidentified object is showing unusual activity, be on your guard." Almost at once a slender form shot out, it's wake seemingly dragging the metal components through space, with the shape of the Kismet in the distance there seemed to be no questions over it's intentions. "An Orbital frame?! Can't be, i'm not getting any Metatron readings." "Flight mode" Called out the AI responding to Leo's command Hey i recognise that from the debriefing downloaded from ADA's mission log from when Dingo had piloted Jehuty 10 years ago. I thought it was destroyed by Anubis along with it's runner?. "Kismet this is Leo over, you have a likely hostile frame heading your way!" Leo wasted no time getting a lock on target as his HUD tracked the frame as he cruised off over the open space to meet this new threat.

[BennyBoosh]

O_O SO MUCH. I shall read it later when I have some time. I look forward to it being a fan of ZOE.

[[87thSAS]]

CHAPTER 7: Eta (Part III)

"Lieutenant, report." Barked out Vassil under the revolving red light.

"Captain we have a sighting of a hostile OF, it's has a BAHRAM, an old one sir," the officer allowed a pause to let it sink in then continued highlighting a screen "trailing behind it are several pieces of metal that appear to of originated from OFs and ships, we detect high energy readings radiating from them, unable to pinpoint the kind of energy, the AI has calculated that there is a 78.6% chance they are bombs, a 26.4% chance they are weapons for the OF to use and 5.78% chance they are an alternative energy source for the OF. The fleet is currently moving into a defensive formation and C-Rs are being deployed from the mobile unit carrier Argos." So the Grim Reaper has finally come to claim the last remnants of my soul well come and get it you bone idle bitch!

"Launch all the Phasmatis that we have and have them assault this Orbital Frame from their maximum range."

"What about the Territorial Defence Corps. pilots we have on board, should we use them?"

"No those groundhogs will only get in the way." From the bridge the crew could see small pockets of LEVs boost onwards to their adversary along with the UNSF C-Rs who flew in a V formation. Due to the speed difference the Raptors reached the Orbital Frame first, the Orbital Frame reacted by halting then stretching it's arms out giving the image of black dagger hanging in space. Black smoke poured out of it's limbs, spreading quickly around the area that it encompassed the Raptors and the space around them. A V2 that had following the Orbital frame swerved out of the way of the expanding cloud.

"Let's back up slowly men." Warned the LEV team leader. The two battle cruisers that had been sent to investigate the object approached the black cloud from underneath their weapons out and trained on the general direction of the mass.

"Captain we lost our connection with the C-Rs!" Shouted one of the crewman. Vassil's expression didn't change So? They're expendable.

"Have those 2 battle cruisers fire at will in the black mass" Ordered Vassil. The tips of the weapons on the battle cruisers lit up before discharging their deadly content upwards where they darted like rain into the cloud. A few of the shots were reported to have been coming out of the other end. This continued for a few minutes.

"Okay tell them to cease fire, send in one of the LEV teams, then another team after 10 seconds. The rest can hold their position."

"Sir?"

"Do it." The feed showed a LEV team enter cautiously into the darkness then disappear from where light could shine. Ten seconds passed and the next team entered. There was silence as they watched the smoke swirl about lazily except for the blips on the radar monitors, as green dots were systematically fading.

"J Leader, O Leader what's going on?" Asked the sub-commander with a hint of fear in his voice. In answer to his question a Phasmatis tagged belonging to J team flew backwards with smoke and fire trailing behind it then a Raptor with UNSF markings came out and made a dash attack to finish it off. The Raptor looked different as the energy lines were a different colour and it wasn't because of it's Damage Colour Indicator as the lines were black with a dark purple glow. Nine more Raptors came out, each affected the same as the first one.

"Aren't those our C-Rs?" Asked Vassil I thought they were destroyed by the cruiser's guns if not by the potential explosives.

"Yes, the computer has matched their signals and they're registering as foe!" Replied the Captain of the Argos.

"Captain we're tracking multiple unfriendly signals in the mass - we can't ID them!" In groups of threes, clumps of metal quickly hovered out of the black, switching positions with each other continuously as they headed to the ships. The first three reached a battleship, deftly dodging the ship's weapon fire, one of the metal balls went static and expanded, releasing a metal tentacle which slithered liked a snake jabbing at the guns that were desperately trying to shoot it down. The other two took positions at the stern and could be best described as mauling the ship, digging into it then ripping parts out, eventually destroying it. Another triad of metal clumps took points around a destroyer, the tentacles wrapping themselves inside and inducing an explosion in the midsection. The Phasmatis were barely hanging on in their small numbers as they banded close together in fending off the converted Raptors, who for some reason were coming off weaker to the UNSF attacks admittedly they now used a Rapid Action Bi-Cannon 54, S model for a standard weapon but even that shouldn't hit the Raptors so well. Still, they couldn't fend off the Raptors energy based attacks evident by the Phasmatis who became the unlucky receiver of a homing laser blast or orb detonation.

"I'm hit! I can't go on..."

"Captain we have an incoming floating mines, starboard, North-East, 64 degrees ETA 27 seconds, Phalanx batteries are locking on to it. Particle beams firing." For the men on the bridge, their attention was all on the gunners, however Vassil continued observing the main screen.

"Repeating lasers firing."

"MS battery has locked on, firing first barrel array...missed, reloading second array.".

"Ahhh!!! I need assistance"

"ETA 12 seconds!"

"Phalanx batteries locked, firing." A furious spray of blue bolts from each battery scattered itself among the side of the Kismet, creating a blanket of focused energy onto the mines that kept on approaching.

"Confirmed, 5 mines destroyed. Make that 7, 8!"

"Tracking a cluster of floating mines North-North-East, ETA 19 seconds. MS locked, firing second barrel array...direct hit, no effect!"

"This the Captain of the battleship Scylla, we are at a critical level!..."

"Repeating lasers and Particle beams are making hits - no effect from them either!"

"Concentrating all Phalanx batteries on cluster, no effect!!!"

"Brace for impact in: 4, 3, 2, 1..." The ship shook violently from the shockwave of the mines exploding on it's side, a few of the monitors cracked and some of the crew slammed into the instruments adjacent to them.

"Damage report!" Hollered Vassil.

"Real Time Diagnostics says 30% hull damage, a 61% of the external plating on the starboard is destroyed, Starboard MS battery destroyed, Primary power systems are temporarily offline - will be back on in a few minutes!"

"Damage Control reports no serious damages, minor structural damage, mostly superficial so far!"

"Captain personnel at the brig is reporting that the prisoner has escaped from confinement, 2 dead, 1 seriously wounded another unconscious!" Now there is no way I'll die because that BAHRAM freak! thought Vassil.

"Have ALL the security personnel hunt the bastard down!" Ordered Vassil with a little too much emotion than he would of liked but due to the chaotic situation no one noticed. "Perhaps these TDC pilots can be used after all, have them assist security also."

"What?" Asked the incredulous sub-commander.

"They are infantry trained as well as being LEV trained, are they not?" Vassil replied rhetorically. The sub-commander just nodded and turned to watch the rampage continue to unfold.

[[87thSAS]]

CHAPTER 7: Eta (Part IV)

Why is that damn Orbital Frame that started this mess not coming out? Was the question burning in Leo's mind as he banked right then changed out of flight mode to slash at an orbiting Raptor. I'm not going in there if that's what it's waiting for Looking at the black cloud, he was snapped back to attention as he quickly had to bring up his energy shield to absorb a group of stray shots.

"I'm on your side!" Complained Leo. Suddenly a jet black figure burst out of the top of the black mass and swan dived to where the Phasmatis were huddled.

"Leo..." Started the sub-commander.

"I'm on it." Dashing forwards intermittently, Leo managed to get himself between the Orbital Frame and the UNSF LEVs. Looking behind it, Leo could see the blackness that was spawned by the frame start to dissapate, bringing his focus to the foreground he could get a good look at this frame and it was very, very close to how he remembered it from the visual recordings; the figurehead which acted as a cockpit was there but in a shattered form, the blades on the wrists were serated and perhaps longer, the armour of gel was there too though it tended to resonate a dark purple glow every so often. Before Leo could make a move the broken cockpit formed together, shining dark silver and flew straight off the frame to Leo's Vic Viper like a falcon making it's strike, it glimmered in it's flight making it hard to follow, instictively Leo put up his energy shield blocking the cockpit's numerous attacks, but out of the corner of his eye he could see the frame itself move towards him, it's right arm held back. Perceiving what what was going on Leo diengaged his shield and parried away the cockpit a few times before shooting a gauntlet at the frame, he then reversed speedily to get some space between the two threats, panting "Who are you?" was all Leo could ask.

Without warning a pillar of bright, fluroescent, blue light rose out of the belly of the Kismet, a white-cyan light could then be seen going down it. Energy lines sprouted from all over the ship, all running to the base of the pillar. Soon the pillar reached a peak and stopped growing, the base of the pillar left the ship following the white-cyan light until both reached the peak and formed a sphere of blinding light to all who could see. The sphere dissolved into hazy particles and from what his V2's camera could pick up, a form hovered, light resonating around it Jehuty? No what am i thinking that's on Atlantis with Eleina...then it must be... only one other possibility, one that Leo had not seen for eight years, one that stripped a mother from her daughter and one that carried the essence of the Tear of the Stars in it ...Heru.

* * *

Distracted by the sight of the spectacle from the view of the window, Melanie was entranced by the light as it had this almost soothing effect. Her mind told to stop looking and get to safety as the tanoy had alerted a prisoner was on the loose nevermind the battle raging on outside and she would of done that if she hadn't caught the look of what stood there.

"Mom...?!" Was the thought that escaped her quivering lips.

[[87thSAS]]

Thankyou, Salamat Poi, Merci! (To Wip3out as well) Feedback much appreciated.

Sorry it comes in "Parts _" but would you believe it? We have a "character count" for posts!?

[[Greendotz]]

I loved the Z.O.E games, will definatly give this a read later, nice one lol, i was scared to post earlier cause i didnt want to interupt, but now it looks finished.

[[87thSAS]]

Thanks, but no need to worry about interrupting since it's not really, the only thing i think is interrupting is the fact i have to post chapters in parts due to character limit we have. I suggest looking at AEM on http://www.mechatalk.net/viewtopic.php?t=155&sid=be67249b3a04ad44dcd8fd95077dc830 since it's more cleaned up their (no time limit with editing) and you get to see Chapter 2 in it's whole form - sorry about that. And i wouldn't say it's finished what with all the threads needing to be tied plus the chapters titles do follow the Greek alphabet (Alpha - Omega) therefore we may have got 19 chapters to go (woe is me).

[[87thSAS]]

CHAPTER 8: Theta (Part I) The crew on the bridge of the Kismet recovered from the violent tremors that had knocked out the power once again, for now the explosions and weapon fire outside would provide the only light source - even if it was momentary. Vassil looked around expectantly. "Well somebody, anyone, explain?" Vassil looked at an officer sitting near his right "Lieutenant you were saying something before the lights went?" The Lieutenant looked back wide-eyed for bit before frantically trying to recall what he said a minute ago. "Erm, there...there was a high surge of Metatron output from inside one of the holds of the ship, it wasn't from the ship's generators as the readings were just phenomenal! The failsafes would of kicked in to stop it." "The holds you say?" This will ruin things if it's what i fear it might be "So how long till we get back power?" "Hard to say since this is really more of engineering's expertise, i would be surprised if the circuits are still in one piece after the treatment their been getting!" The Lieutenant said wearily. Vassil made two short snorts at that t'would be no surprise for me. "Well until then we'll have to switch to our Octopus." The Octopus support system was an emergency independent feature installed on the ship as an alternative should the primary control system fail for whatever reason and could be used to provide a surrogate control channel for other ships, although the technology was very similar to the standard devices used it's main highlight was it's communications which relied on a different form of transmission since it operated on a two step flow system whereby the bridge would control the flow of communication to designated screens, giving priority to the most pressing of messages and replies. However a drawback of the Octopus was that it could only apply itself to the necessary resources of the ship, also since it was operating independently there was a time limit on the power supply. "Activating the Octopus now." Red lines spread from the top of a pillar in the room running across the ceiling like rivulets of a stream, each one breaking off to an available corridor, within a few seconds the Octopus was fully connected. Now to set about making a few assurances Vassil thought. "Send a message to the LEVs and tell them to treat any other Orbital frame that appears as a threat and to focus their attacks to it no matter what, but have Major Stenbuck cover the other hostiles should that be the case." "Captain shouldn't that be the other way round, the V2 is much more capable at handling a Frame of a high calibre on it's own?" Suggested the Sub-commander. "I have read his file Sub-commander, he's not very reliable when it comes to OFs he's affiliated to." "What are you, talking about Captain, the only existing OF Leo is affiliated with is Jehuty and It's no secret to the UNSF that Jehuty is aboard the Atlantis." "Ah, now if i said that i would put the emphasis on the word "existing"" Giving the Sub-commander a cryptic glance before returning to spectate on the action outside. The Sub-commander dropped his shoulders in resignation nothing was making any sense to him lately. * * * The eyes on the Orbital Frame flared intensely, dispersing off the last specks of excess energy giving any observer clear visibility of it. The frame was a mix of sapphire and green metal with glowing, cyan energy lines flowing down it's body in waves. There appeared to be sickle-like blade attached to the right arm, currently folded back though it seemed it could be just as lethal in that position too. The "wings" had a design in which they were stacked on top of each other, each smaller than the one below so when spread out fully they had the crude outline of a pair wings usually depicted in pieces of art from long ago. For Leo it was easy to see why he initially confused Heru for Jehuty just like he did 8 years ago when he first set his eyes upon Heru, it's design was mostly inspired from data collected from Jehuty with the rest inspired by Anubis - unlike it's brother Ophois...What is it doing here? How come it's active? What does this mean? Though the question more concerning for Leo was Who is piloting that frame? Looking back at the "zombie" Inhert, it was just as shocked by the appearance of Heru. Ignoring Leo it appeared to be ordering one of the Raptors to investigate as one of them turned from facing the Phasmatis to dash off towards Heru. The two Frames met, the Raptor looked to be sizing it's opponent up while Heru remained stoic then the Raptor charged charged at Heru after crossing it's twin blades, Heru shifted it's body into a battle stance with the left arm slightly raised and the right pulled back a bit, left leg raised. The Raptor got within a few metres of it's target when Heru let out a right hook and although the fist didn't make contact the blade on the side did dealing considerable damage as the spinal column and left arm was sliced in two then the blade folded forward and Heru brought it's arm back finishing the Raptor in a fragmented explosion Well that's looks promising. Movements sure are smooth if a little tense Leo thought. After the explosion dissipated, all the Raptors instantly stopped engaging the Phasmatis and headed straight for Heru disregarding any shots fired from the UNSF LEVs that hit them No need for me to be of help here but the rest of the fleet sure needs it! decided Leo as he surveyed the scene before taking off into the mix. "Mode change" A message in red dissolved on one of the monitors in the cockpit These orders are insane! No surprise i guess especially if Vassil is aware of it but why does it want to have taken out if he had it on his ship? Covering up the fact he had the Frame in the first place? Turning his head to catch Heru engage the Raptors, Leo saw it whip out a small, pulsating energy ball which shot past the side of the Raptors then exploded into numerous homing lasers, each one destroying a Raptor in succession. Heru dashed forward to the left and another ball was released and another batch of homing lasers burst out but a few of the lasers didn't head to the Raptors, instead curving to the Phasmatis who tried evade them but to no avail as the homing lasers made short work of it's victims, only four LEVs were left alive What the hell?! God i hope it isn't some "unfriendly" stowaway who is the runner...maybe a case of friendly fire?...The thing is the lock-on mechanism actively discriminates between friend and foe - you can't lock-on to both!. Heru stopped in it's tracks, almost unsure about what to do next, seemingly frozen. * * * "Hmph, so my suspicions are confirmed the escaped prisoner has stolen the Orbital Frame!" Stated Vassil. "Er, "stolen", sir? I and-and i think i speak for everyone here but i wasn't aware we even had a Orbital Frame, there's hardly any of them left in the UNSF...unless you're referring to those projects, but they were scrapped on Earth after the Fall of Aumaan." Pointed out the Sub-commander ****! Vassil cursed himself in his mind Should know better than to let myself make a slip like that. Deliberately ignoring his second-in-command, Vassil looked to his Chief Gunner. "What's the situation with the weapons?" "The Octopus doesn't list our offensive weapons as necessities so it not connected to them except for our defense armaments, they're connected and still operable - looks like we'll have to program it let us go manual in order to use them." The Chief Gunner added reluctantly, since warfare had advanced so much technologically most fighting tended to be done by computers, participants safe behind desks that they would have to go out and man the guns in actual hands-on combat was something they had near zero experience other than VR simulation, "War is a video game" was the unofficial slogan pilots and other personnel who directly fought in the battlefield gave to weapon operators. What would be the point...ahh ****** it let them have their fun and see what good it will do Vassil sighed with a tone of regret, a persistent voice caught his attention. "Captain!" It was his Sub-commander. "Yes? Oh right, look I'll explain this all in due time but right now it is imperative that this Frame gets shot down for good above all else!" There was a small element of sadness in his voice as he said that.